The present invention relates to a carbon fiber composite material and a method of producing the same.
In recent years, a composite material using carbon nanofibers as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-88256 has attracted attention. Such a composite material is expected to exhibit improved mechanical strength and the like due to inclusion of the carbon nanofibers. However, since the carbon nanofibers have strong aggregating properties, it is very difficult to uniformly disperse the carbon nanofibers in a matrix of a composite material. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a carbon nanofiber composite material having desired properties. Moreover, expensive carbon nanofibers cannot be efficiently utilized.